NEWS FLASH… as per a recent news show, parents should discourage their kids from writing letters to Santa that included a list of more than 4 or 5 presents. WHAT! It’s hard enough trying to get kids to believe in Santa past the age of 6 these days, and now we have to tell them to limit their list, repress their excitement and have little expectations of what the man in RED is going to haul on his sleigh!
Before you go all ballistic on me and give some long winded, politically correct, there are kids in this world that have nothing lecture, hear me out…
I’ll begin with Baby Beans & Winnie-the-Pooh. I got them for Christmas when I was 5 & 6, respectively. Yes, I still have them. 
When I was younger, my brother & I would sit down with the Sears catalog (no Virginia, we didn’t have computers or the internet back then) and list every damn toy we even remotely thought we’d like to have. I’m talking 2 or 3 pages, front and back, single-spaced standard notebook paper lists. Item #, page # & description just in case the elves needed specs, I guess!
I don’t recall my mother ever saying, “now Peggy, you should stop at 5 because Santa may only have enough room for 3 or 4 of those toys.” My lists would have 162 items and you want me to scale back to 5??
It must have taken us days to write them – trust me, mom wasn’t denying us the joy of hoping we’d get all that stuff and she wasn’t denying herself the joy of her 2 youngest children being quiet for a hours on end!
We weren’t wealthy by any stretch of the imagination and didn’t get very many presents on Christmas morning. BUT, we didn’t need a lecture on social issues or be told to lower our expectations and limit the number of sugar plums we saw in our dreams. Christmas was the one time of year that we could ask for anything & everything. He’s SANTA for (dare I say it) Christ’s sake!
We’ll get to keeping “Christ in Christmas” another day…
Part of BELIEVING in Christmas as we get older is remembering the JOY of Christmas as children. If the magic is stifled, if we don’t let kids believe in the impossible and hear the jingle bells, they won’t have any SPIRIT of Christmas to carry over into adulthood. Our boys have entered the “there is no Santa” phase of life. 
However, that doesn’t mean they don’t BELIEVE in Christmas and they still make a list. They believe in the SPIRIT of Santa and all that he represents. They also understand that the true MEANING of Christmas has something to do with the aforementioned baby…
Now, back to the “pc” lecture…yes, we told our boys when they were little that Santa wasn’t going to be able to bring them everything on their lists, but we didn’t tell them how many things could go on that list. As they’ve gotten older, we’ve had the “not everyone is as lucky as you” conversation, the importance of donating gifts and being thankful. They still WANT stuff, but are old enough to understand why they won’t get everything.
When they are adults, I want them to look at an old toy the way I look at Baby Beans & Pooh and feel like they are 5 again. I want them to remember the MAGIC of Christmas so that they will continue to celebrate the MEANING of Christmas!
For now, they’ll both have their Glow-in-the-Dark “Dear Santa” pillowcases on their beds on Christmas Eve! And, for that matter, so will I…HO HO HO!!
About Peggy
OMG – limit what they ask Santa for? Who did the news show…the Grinch himself?!?
My problem is that even though we don’t have much money, hubby still shops for Christmas as if we did, and starts shopping in like AUGUST. By the time Christmas gets here, there’s no money for me to buy anything for the boys, and hubby has bought 80 fricking lego sets. He totally sucks the fun right out of Christmas for me. This year (because he did it YET AGAIN!), he’s getting coal in his stocking!
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I sat down with the Sears catalog too!
What’s the harm in a ten page wish list? It’s a WISH list, not an expectation list. ‘Parenting experts,’ bah humbug!
A friend of ours recently explained to his seven year old that Santa goes by your income taxes, so she probably wasn’t getting an iPad 2. Apparently this explanation made perfect sense to her.
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Funny thing is, I never remember writing a Christmas list when I was little. I really don’t know why. We didn’t have very much money growing up, and for many years (especially as I got a lot older, like 5th grade and up), we didn’t celebrate Christmas at all. My mom was Christian during that time and part of that belief was that we shouldn’t just be celebrating Jesus on that one day, it should be all year long. So, we just didn’t celebrate it very much. I don’t why…just different ways of growing up.
Now…
The tooth fairy.
I totally wrote to her! I even wrote to her when I swallowed my tooth once.
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never wrote to the tooth fairy! what did you talk about…teeth, how much she left you, the color of her outfit? that’s cute – don’t think i know anyone that wrote to the tooth fairy;)
LOL! Actually one time I swallowed my tooth and I had to write her a note under my pillow all about it (I did end up getting cash in the morning too as a result, so see? It totally worked!!)
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My kid told me she didn’t want anything for Christmas…until I gave her a few catalogs to go through…and now I’m regretting it!
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Oh – and I have a confession to make…my dad gave me a HUGE stuffed animal baby horse lying down when I was 4, and I only just got rid of it 2 years ago because it couldn’t be washed and had gotten to the point where it was going to start growing things. Broke. My. Heart.
The new “keeping forever” thing is a stuffed teddy bear hubby got me before the boys were born that they both adore.
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I have too many other keeping forever things…i’m trying to come up with a way to save them outside of a box in my basement! If Beans or Pooh ever reach that stage it will tear me up!
We would go through the big Wish Book too. Silliness to restrict a wish list. I understand restricting what a kid gets and hell yes I plan on letting our kid know that Christmas isn’t gimme gimme gimme, but seriously? It’s a wish list…
OMG. Total memories of getting the JCPenny toy catalog (thinking back, it was probably delivered in, like, September – those bastards) and scanning scrutinizing agonizing over every toy on every page. I’d write and rewrite my list, adding, amending, addendums.
Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever actually got anything listed in the JC Penny Catalog. Hm.
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I don’t think we did either:) Funny, but it never deterred us from writing that huge list the next year – hope rings eternal! And yes, the book did come early and it was a painful task to edit, add, add, add, add…..
The kids have figured out that santa leaves spendier gifts at Daddy’s house. But they also know he does come to TWO houses (which they are not sad about) and that he does bring them a few things they want. Usually they have pricy items and less pricy items, and as long as they get something they were hoping for, it works out fine.
My mom still likes long lists. She treats it like a store. If you just list 3 things, then she feels like you know what you are getting. If you list 100 things, then she can pick 3 and you have no idea what might be coming, so it’s still sort of a surprise.
I love this! I explained to my kids that even Santa had to tighten his belt this year. My son is old enough that he doesn’t believe in Santa anymore, but my daughter was pretty cool about it. I still gave them the ads and let them circle whatever they wanted and let them make lists with as many items as they wanted. We always let them know that they can’t have everything but that they will definitely be happy with what they get. So far so good.
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Amen to letting kids dream and fantasize. I’m letting my daughter do the same, because the whole concept of Santa is supposed to be magical and not practical. Good for you and I agree with everything!